About a decade ago, members of the Knowles family winced at the comparisons of their family to the Jacksons. But there are some similarities that may sting some sensibilities, including the family patriarch who is increasingly alienated from the very superstar he’s most responsible for creating, that he was an alleged serial philanderer, and that he supposedly landed in financial difficulty after the star cut ties with the father.
Mathew Knowles, the father of Beyonce and Solange Knowles, has filed a defamation countersuit alleging a law firm spread lies about him auctioning off Beyonce’s personal belongings and memorabilia in order to stave off complete financial disaster.
Knowles, 66, is accusing his former lawyers, Lang Ferrer PLLC, of running up his lawyer’s fees and spreading lies that he sold Beyonce’s things at auction.
The firm accuses Knowles in court documents of refusing to ante up the $50K he owed them for work they performed, according to The Blast.
The lawsuit alleges Knowles tried to keep it on the low that he hosted a silent auction to sell off Beyonce’s belongings during the 2017 Super Bowl weekend. They claim he hid the proceeds from the auction to avoid paying off debt he owed to creditors, including their law firm.
Knowles adamantly refutes the allegations and he soon countersued the law firm for defamation of his character that was gravely injurious to his reputation and ability to engage in subsequent business deals.
For example, according to The Blast, the lost deals included one with Port Royal Resort worth $175M. In addition, Knowles says Texas Southern University used the auction as one of the main reasons why he was not given a tenured professorship.
Knowles also said he lost out on a deal to license a music catalog of more than 3K songs.
The man who was once married to Tina Knowles admits he did hold a silent auction to sell off athletic gear and sports items. He claimed the law firm repeatedly circulated inflammatory and damning stories about him being broke and selling Beyonce’s personal items.
In his countersuit, Knowles claims the firm threatened him in advance that they’d make things “ugly for him” if he did not pay what Knowles called “excessive and unreasonable” legal invoices, The Blast reports.
Knowles says the incendiary stories contaminated his image to the point where they ruined his business dealings with people — many of whom said they could not work with him because they believe the stories about him auctioning off Beyonce’s memorabilia.
Knowles asked the judge presiding over the case not to dismiss the counter-suit.
